Car suspension for airships.



G. A. GROCG'D & 0. RICALDONI.

. GAR SUSPENSION PoR AIRSHIPS. APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 27, 1909.

975,330, f Patented Nom-8, 1910.

' n. c, THE Nokms PETERS cn., wAsHlNc au,

GAETANO ARTUROv CROCCO AND OTTAVIO RICALDONI, 0l? ROME, ITALY.

CAR SUSPENSION FOR AIRSHIPS.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that we, GAETANO ARTURO CRocoo and OrTAvio RioALDoNI, bothsubjects of the King of Italy, and captains in the Aeronautical Brigade,residing in Rome, in the Kingdom of Italy, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in a Car Suspension for Airships, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in the means for suspending thecar of dirigible airships, and connecting the same with the gas bag, andcomprises a novel arrangement of parts applicable in all cases, butparticularly advantageous when a short car has to be suspended by a muchlonger balloon hull. It is well known that when the car has the samelength, or approximatively the same length of the balloon, the flexibletype of suspension can be adopted, that is the car can be directlyconnected to the gas bag by means of wires or ropes convenientlydisposed, in order to insure as much as possible a perfectindeforniability. Then the car is too short the above system is notpractically convenient and it becomes necessary to insert between thegas bag and the car a long horizontal beam having sufficient stiffness,which beam is suspended under the gas bag, in the same way as a longcai'. and supports in its turn the short car. It is evident that thepresence of the intermediate beam greatly increases the resistance ofthe air and diminishes the speed of the airships. It has been,therefore, proposed to have the iigid structure transferred in immediatecontact with the gas bag and directly fixed to same. The disadvantage ofthis arrangement is that on one side the envelop cannot change i'ts formin accordance with the variations of the gas pressure, because the partiXed to the rigid structure does not follow the fluctuation of the gas,and on the other side dangerous stresses arise where the metallicarmature is fixed to the tissue, so that the latter becomes liable tosoon be torn.

According to the present invention all the above-mentionedinconveniences are avoided by arranging a flat supporting beam in theinterior of the balloon resting freely on the bottom of same, so thatthe tissue of the envelop is not prevented from extending or contractingunder the influence of the strains to which it is subjected. The car issuspended to said beam by means of cords passing through holes providedin the lower por- Speccation of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 27, 1909.

Patented Nov. S, 1910.

serial No. 486,124.

tion of the envelop whereon rests the beam. Said portion of tlie envelopmust be strong enough to withstand the strains arising from thebuoyancy, and a second layer of lighter gas tight fabric is arrangedabove the beam and completes the gas tight closing of the envelop at itslower part. The girder may consist in a lattice work or grating arrangedinside the lowermost part of the envelop of the aerostat, its meshesbeing formed by elements arranged preferably in such a manner as tofollow the meridians and the parallels. A lgirder or beam of this kindpresents the same disadvantages as the continuous beams resting onseveral supports, viz: even a slight vertical yielding of the supportscan produce considerable bending strains 1n the beam. In this particularkind of girder the said disadvantage is a very great one, because thesupports are formed by the suspension cords of the car, which cordsthrough the vibrations of the propelling device as well as throughvariations of the tempera.- ture and through irregularities in puttingtogether the several parts, can easily undergo variations in tension,thus producing variations in the forces acting on the knots, whichshould, on the contrary, maintain constant determined values, in orderthat the perfect equilibrium of the system is obtained in the mannercalculated. In order to avoid this disadvantage, under the invention, wesubdivide the longitudinal elements following the meridia-ns into asmany independent sections as there are spans of the beam, connectingthem with each other by means of hinges. By adopting this arrangement itwill be convenient to substitute for the transversal elements having theform of arcs of circles other rectilinear elements, so as toy obtain agreater stability. Each span of the beam would then be formed by a flatlatticework having square meshes, and in order to avoid deformations ofany kind, it will be convenient to provide each mesh of same with rigidor wire-rope diagonals.

Thus the bottom of the balloon will externally appear as formed by aplurality of cylindrical elements with horizontal generatricesperpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the air ship and intersectingalong the rectilinear transversal elements of the lattice work containedtherein.

In order to cause the lower fabric of the envelop to adhere perfectly tothe beam which rest-s upon same, it will be necessary at the lower partVofthe envelop, abandoning girder the airship can remain in the shed theordinary shape of revolution, to adopt as the keel the developablesurface which has as directrixes the two meridians, or other suitablecurves, which form the periphery of the beam, and as generatriXesrectilinear ele# ments, normal to the longitudinal axis of th-e airship,resting on said directriXes.

In the annexed drawing, which shows diagrammatically the arrangement ofthe improved beam: Figures l, 2 and 3 show in longitudinal section,transverse section, and horizontal section, respectively, av dirigibleaerostat ship provided with a girder accord ing to the presentinvention.

On the bottom of the envelop -lis placed' the latticework beam embracedbetween the outer fabric -2-', which serves to support the same, and aninner fabric 3- which closes the gas-bag, inside which the ballonet -10-is placed. In the eX- ample shown in the drawing the beam is -formed bylongitudinal elements -4- follow-ing the meridians and by rectilineartransverse elements -5-. Thus Vsquare meshes are formed, each one ofwhich constitutes a span of the beam stiffened by means of the diagonal-6-, which can consist of wire-rope, for, as the meshes in thisconstruction are fiat, the employment of rectilinear diagonals does notcause any diiiiculty.

Each span ofthe beam is hinged to that next adjacent thereto in thejoints 7, where the longitudinal. elements meet tbe transverse elementsand where the cords -S- serving for suspending the car -9 are preferablyattached and which run through orifices formed in the outer fabric 2- ofthe envelop. As the flat keel of the envelop constructed in the abovemanner is perfectly developable on one plane, it greatly facilitates thefilling and emptying ofthe envelop, because the beam from the beginningofthe operation can be placed on the ground together with the envelop inthe same way as a chain; thek envelop takes then its shape undertheaction of the inner pressure of the gas and of the tensions whicharedeveloped in the cords.

In order to obtain the constancy in the shape, when the airship is inaction, it is necessary to employ as usual an inner ballonet l0- withcompressed air. In the present case,A however, the importance of thispiece is greatly reduced; the pressure of the air in its inside can infact be greatly diminished and the pressure which can be obtained by thespeed of travel may be suflicientif the air is gathered with a suitablewind sleeve conveniently disposed, as is at present practiced with sometypes of captive balloons. Lastly with the aforesaid linked without anyinternall pressure; because a girder of this kind easily accommodatesitselfl to the variations in the shape of the gas bag caused bythevariations of the gas pressure, while such accommodation is not possiblein the case of rigid 'and non deformable girders wit-hout producingdangerous stresses in their elements.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declarethat what we claim is:

l. In a dirigible airship, the combination with the envelop, of alattice work beam lying` along the bottom of the envelop, said beamcomprising a plurality of independent sections hinged together', thesections being substantially rectangular in form.

2. In a dirigible airship, the combination with the envelop, of alattice work beam lying along the bottom of said envelop, said beamcomprising a plurality of; independent sections hinged together, thesections being substantially rectangular in form, and each beingprovided with diagonal braces.

3. In a dirigible airship, the combination with the envelop ofthe gasbagcomposed at the bottom of inner and outer layers, of

a lattice work beam between the layers, and

composedofa plurality of independent sections placed in longitudinalalinement, said sections being' hinged to each other at their ends, acar below the envelop, and flexible supports extending from each end ofthe alternate hinge connections to the car.

4. In a dirigible airship, the combination with the envelop of the gasbag composed at the bottom of inner and outer layers, of a lattice workbeam between the layers, and composed of a plurality of independentsections placed in longitudinal alinement, said sections being hinged toeach other at their ends.

rIhe combination with the envelop of a dirigible airship, of a latticework beam in the lower side of the envelop, said beam being' dividedtransversely at regular intervals, into a plurality of sections, saidsections being hinged at their abutting ends.

6. The combination with the envelop of a dirigible airship, ofalongitudinally flexible lattice work beam in the lower side of theenvelop. l

In witness whereof we have set hereunto our hands in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

LETTERIO LATRUETTO, RENATO SoEvoLo.

